Senators at Kings
The Los Angeles Kings look to snap a pair of losing skids on Saturday when they host the Ottawa Senators in the finale of a three-game homestand. Los Angeles has dropped three in a row at Staples Center and five straight to Ottawa, including a heartbreaking loss in Canada's capital city on Nov. 11 as Mark Stone scored with seven seconds remaining in the third period of a 2-1 win.
Stone has scored seven goals and set up seven others in his last 12 games, including two of each in the first two contests of the Senators' four-game road trip. While Ottawa is riding momentum from Wednesday's 4-2 victory at San Jose, Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter was left scratching his head after the Kings' lackluster performance in a 3-1 loss to Carolina on Thursday. "I don't think our top guys were very sharp, and they didn't have any scoring chances," Sutter said. "Our top guys were not very efficient out there maximizing what God gave them." Reigning Norris Trophy winner Drew Doughty has scored in back-to-back contests and has three goals and five assists in his last eight games.
TV: 4 p.m. ET, TSN5, RDS (Ottawa), FSN West (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE SENATORS (16-9-2): Chris Neil will become the 308th NHL player to reach the 1,000 games played plateau and 52nd with the same team when he takes the ice on Saturday. "When you first start out you're just excited to get your first game," the 37-year-old Neil said Thursday. "And before you know it, you have 100 and then 500 and then over the years they just keep accumulating, and then it's a pretty exciting accomplishment. Being with the Senators my whole career has been awesome, it's been an honor to suit up for one team." Neil began his NHL career on Oct. 3, 2001, and scored 112 goals and set up 136 others while accumulating 2,492 penalty minutes in his career.
ABOUT THE KINGS (13-11-2): Sutter is looking to shake things up with the intent of inserting rugged Andy Andreoff into the lineup to provide a physical component into Saturday's game. Devin Setoguchi is also expected to join Andreoff and Dustin Brown on the team's third line while Kyle Clifford and Nic Dowd are likely to be the odd men out. "I think that line was having a really hard time five-on-five, so we put (Dwight King) in there," Sutter said on Friday. "That line's got to produce for us, but it's also got to be able to play against good players, and if you're getting scored on, there's a good chance you’re on the short end of it."
OVERTIME
1. King scored in the first encounter and resides one tally shy of 50 for his career.
2. Ottawa has eight power-play goals in its last six games.
3. Los Angeles G Jeff Zatkoff has stopped 49 of 51 shots in two career starts versus the Senators, but has an 0-0-1 mark to show for it.